Every July 4, an enthusiastic crowd gathers to watch some of the world’s
fastest eaters consume as many hot dogs as they can in ten minutes. And it is
quite the spectacle. Last year’s champion ate 62 hot dogs. Can you imagine
that many hot dogs packed into your stomach?

Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest
began in 1972 and is held on Independence Day each summer in the Coney Island
neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. Contestants have adopted different methods.
Some tear the hot dogs in two, eat the meat first, then the bun. Others dowse
dog and bun in water to help them slide down their throat as they essentially
swallow it whole. Some bounce up and down to move the dogs down into their gut.

Whatever the method, the objective
is simple: Eat as many whole hot dogs, with the bun, as quickly as you can.

What Not to Do with the Bible

Nathan’s famous contest may
be entertaining (and make for good ratings for ESPN on an otherwise slow holiday
morning), but it also serves as an extreme, but helpful, example of what not
to do when we reach for the Bible. This memorable foil provocatively cautions
us against bad methods and bad goals when trying to feed our souls with God’s
words.

World-class eaters would never stuff
themselves at top speed at every meal, but many of us are prone to come to Bible
intake like we’re scarfing cheap hot dogs. When morning devotions are
simply our first to-do of the day, and we set out simply to read a chapter,
check a box, and complete the task, we end up putting ourselves through something
more like a hot dog eating contest than an enjoyable, nourishing, life-giving
meal.

In an increasingly fast-paced society,
most of us already feel like life is too busy. We may recognize our need to
feed on God through welcoming his word into our hearts, but it’s all too
easy to come to our Bibles like we’re navigating rush-hour traffic, trying
to get home as quickly as possible. But our frantic souls desperately need to
slow down, linger, and have unhurried time enjoying the rich fare of God’s
self-revelation to us. We need a more reflective — even leisurely —
reception of God’s word.

New York vs. Chicago

Contrast Nathan’s annual competition
in New York with how the patrons of Chris and Rob’s Chicago Style Dogs
enjoy their meals in our South Minneapolis neighborhood. These dogs are worth
slowing down to enjoy. You kick yourself later if your mind wanders elsewhere
and you don’t enjoy the burst of savory and spicy satisfaction. It’s
not worth the caloric collateral if you’re not relishing every bite of
this gourmet Chicago dog, topped with mustard, relish, onions, sliced tomatoes,
sport peppers, and a kosher pickle, seasoned with celery salt on a poppy seed
bun.

Enjoy Every Bite
Instead of rushing through, seeing how quickly you can down one dog and get
on to the next, you take your time at Chris and Rob’s. You would never
dowse a Chicago dog in water and attempt to swallow it whole. You taste it,
and chew it — slowly and deliberately. You try to enjoy every bite.

Some might call this “eating
mindfully.” Whatever you call it, we’re in great need in our hectic
society of recovering the Bible-intake equivalent called “meditation.”

Bringing Meditation Back

Meditation is distinct from mere
reading — especially so-called “speed reading.” It means not
just running the words quickly through your mind, aiming only to grasp a minimum
of meaning, but pausing enough to ponder their significance, and trying to feel
their emotional weight by pressing them into the heart. Meditation seeks to
experience the truth of the text — not just pass information through the
mind, but truly grasp it with our affections.

Jack Davis is right in waving the
flag for “a more reflective and leisurely engagement with Scripture”
in our day (Meditation and Communion with God: Contemplating Scripture in an
Age of Distraction, 20). Far too often, we are far too rushed when we come to
our Bibles. According to Davis, the nature of modern life, and the “information
overload” we have through television, smartphones, and endless new media
“makes a slow, unhurried, and reflective reading of Scripture more vital
than ever” (22).

Join the Slow Movement

Much could be said about meditation
— ways to go about it, techniques to develop, training wheels to get you
going — but perhaps the most important thing to encourage in our Bible
intake is that we take a deep breath, seek to block out distractions, and carve
out enough time for a slow, reflective, unhurried reading of God’s word.
The best lessons come in simply slowing down and reflecting enough to actually
enjoy God’s word for yourself.

Pray that God would quiet your spirit,
free you from the relentless pace of modern life, and let you linger in his
presence — and that he would help you taste and see that he is good, rather
than trying to swallow the Bible whole.